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Flesh Eating Bacteria – Necrotizing Fasciitis

Chef Survives Flesh Eating Bacteria

By Michael Inbar
TODAYshow.com contributor

Chef Matt Murphy has the hands of a culinary artist in his kitchen at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans — but he’s also a rugged man who hasn’t shied from being battered and bloodied  playing his favorite sport, rugby.
So when he felt pain after tripping over one of his daugters’ toys just over a year ago, Murphy’s first instinct was to simply suck it up and move on. Little did he know he was beginning an agonizing medical odyssey that he came through only with first-rate medical care  and a lot of luck.
Master chef Murphy had contracted necrotizing fasciitis (NF), more commonly called flesh-eating disease — an ailment that sounds like it comes from a science-fiction thriller but is an all too real and deadly threat. Its mortality rate is 90 percent, and even those lucky few who survive often have limbs amputated.

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